Key Performance Indicators: From Promise to Payoff. The Productivity for Results Series No. 2

This paper draws upon the expertise of two leading educators, Michael Casserly, director of the Council of the Great City Schools, and Michael Eugene, chief operating officer of the Orange County Public Schools in Florida. They outline a set of key performance indicators that some urban districts use to benchmark the results of their operating systems against those of other major districts. As the pair concludes, the goal is to spread these measures into other districts and start applying the indicators to academic performance. The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system is now in use, at least in part, in the vast majority of the nation's big-city school systems. It is beginning to produce efficiencies and savings in a number of these urban school districts, and is helping to identify best practices. Moreover, it has been evaluated by an independent third-party. It is expanding into the academic arena, and it is being rolled out for the use of other school systems across the nation. Still, there is much more potential to realize. This report summarizes some of the ongoing work on the system, its results to date, and what is envisioned for its future. [A list of resources is included.]